Madonna Defends Tidal: ‘We’re Working Out a Lot of Kinks’

Madonna attends the “China: Through The Looking Glass” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images

“We live in a society now where everybody just expects everything to be for free, but you don’t get a house for free,” says the pop superstar.

Tidal has seemingly been under fire ever since launching in March: the streaming music service is co-owned by some of the medium’s biggest stars, but its pricing has been criticized, its interim CEO recently left and Birdman is reportedly suing the company for $50 million. In a new interview with the Associated Press,Madonna — one of the company’s many famous co-owners — defended Tidal by pointing to the company’s core ideals and hinting at more upcoming changes.

“It’s just the beginning, so we’re working out a lot of kinks and hopefully we’re going to build something unique and amazing that’s going to attract a lot of people,” says Madonna.

One of the “kinks” that Tidal has been working out has been an overall image problem, especially when compared to cheaper subscription services like Apple Music. Earlier this month, Tidal announced a family plan with discounted prices for multiple subscribers using the same account.

“It’s important that people understand we didn’t create Tidal, we didn’t put this together, we didn’t all join forces because we’re broke and we want more money,” says Madonna, who has worked with Jay Z, Beyonce, Jack White, Arcade Fireand several other artists on the new endeavor. “The idea is we want to support other artists and we want people to understand this is our heart, this is our work, and we want people to recognize that and we want other artists to have a chance.

“We live in a society now where everybody just expects everything to be for free, but you don’t get a house for free; you have to pay somebody to build it,” she continued.

Last month, Madonna premiered her video for “Bitch I’m Madonna” exclusively on Tidal, but the service was mired in technical problems and was forced to tweet an apology. Watch the video below: